Anna Colliton says, "My work speaks to themes of loneliness and isolation in modern life, and how we inhabit the constantly changing urban and suburban environments we have created for ourselves.

I'm interested in the visual interplay between natural and manmade elements, and what it means to live an authentic life in a manufactured world."

Currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Anna holds an MPS in Digital Photography from the School of Visual Arts as well as an MS in Multimedia Journalism from the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Her work as been featured in "Natural Selection" at the Calumet Gallery in New York City and "Connecting Ends," at the SVA gallery in New York.

Aubrey Guthrie says, "I want my images and the viewer to ask not only “What is it? but What else is it?"

Guthrie is a retired Emergency Room Physician, Family Practitioner and full time photographer.

FIDDLER ON THE BEACH by Aubrey Guthrie(Click on image for larger view)

INATTENTION by Aubrey Guthrie(Click on image for larger view)

THE SHAPE OF FLIGHT: THE STRUCTURE OF GRACE by Carol HoriganSECOND PLACE WINNER(Click on image for larger view)

Carol Horigan says, "This series, 'The Shape of Flight', ponders that it is difficult to believe that such delicate strands that make up a feather could possibly be sturdy enough to provide the means of graceful, agile gliding across the skies.

After an MFA in printmaking, I was a professor of art in Florida for years. When I decided to leave teaching, I was drawn to photography indirectly. Initially my interest in printmaking and painting introduced a desire in me to always have a camera by my side to work our elements of composition. Looking through a lens, I find that I see differently, more selectively, more abstractly. In recent years, photography has become the dominant medium in which I work."

THE SHAPE OF FLIGHT:SERENITY by Carol Horigan(Click on image for larger view)

THE SHAPE OF FLIGHT: FLOATING by Carol Horigan(Click on image for larger view)

A CERTAIN MEMORY by Chelle Delaney(Click on image for larger view)

Chelle Delaney says, "I often drive and wander through the landscape to find images, such as these found on a trip through Georgia, that voluntarily offer themselves up from the natural and manmade environments.

My concentration and distillation of these found elements are what I believe are often imprinted in memory. These scant and sometimes full cinematic imprints range from the odd juxtaposition of street work, to the graphic, and to the painterly that are captured in memory and reshaped over time"

Chelle Delaney graduated from the University of South Carolina where she studied English Literature.

She later attended the School of Visual Arts and the Southwest School of Arts in San Antonio, Texas, to study photography. Her interest in photography grew out of her work as a print reporter and editor for newspapers, and trade and regional publications.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST 2017 by Chris Bashaw(Click on image for larger view)

Chris Bashaw says, "Like a lot of my work, “Hinterland LA” is about finding respite through what feels natural or simple compared to life near Los Angeles.

This particular series serves somewhat as a love letter to the backwoods of Los Angeles, but don’t mistake “backwoods” as a proxy term for grit.

“Hinterland LA” is an attempt to articulate an admiration for the grandeur of nature that can be experienced in the mountains, rural towns and highways that remain close in orbit around Los Angeles."

After a brief stint working at a newspaper in Malibu, Chris Bashaw is now the publicist for the Department of Theatre and New Dance at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, where he graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism.

He studied photography under Lorena Turner, who enthusiastically supported his education outside the classroom and encouraged him to find his voice with the medium.

SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS- 2018 by Chris Bashaw(Click on image for larger view)

TWO SIDES OF A RIVERBED SIDE ONE 2017 by Chris Bashaw(Click on image for larger view)

DITCH PLAINS II by David Quinn(Click on image for larger view)

David Quinn says, "Over the years, my interests have primarily centered on creating landscape and botanical images with an occasional venture into architectural and street photography.

In many of my photographs I strive to evoke an emotion, raise an uncertainty or create a sense of movement either by isolating key elements or by blurring the subject matter.

These abstract landscapes are part of an ongoing series entitled, Upon Awakening. These impressionistic works are not unlike the images we remember as we awake from our dreams.

To me, they capture the beauty of our natural world by obscuring the day-to-day details of certain vistas concentrating on the essence of form, color, and light. This diminution of detail has a mesmerizing quality that encourages one to linger and contemplate the spirituality of the landscapes."

Debra Van Swearingen says, "My husband and I had the most wonderful opportunity to go to Guam and Japan in July of 2017.

Having been influenced greatly by Japanese art, I was in heaven, to say the least.

Everything in Japan is intensified immensely by it’s age. The Naritasan Shinshoji Temple that we visited has a history of over 1000 years and it’s gardens were a perfect example of “Serenity”. The day we went it had just rained and the skies provided that most beautiful canopy of bright overcast lighting. Inspiration was all around to my delight. Photographing the Temple gardens and the Rikugien Garden in Tokyo was such a joyful experience.

My hope is these images will translate the peaceful serenity that flowed through me and will soothe the spirits of all who view them."

Debra Van Swearingen resides in Oklahoma and is a fine art nature photographer.

For over 35 years, her photographic style has evolved from film alternative processes (oil painted photos, Polaroid transfers and manipulations, and infrared) to today’s digital capture techniques. She has developed a soft, sensual quality in her photographs and wants her images to be “soothing” to the viewer.

Through the years, she has studied and been influenced by a broad range of photographers and artists such as Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Georgia O’keefe as well as many contemporary photographers of today.

After graduating from the University of Oklahoma, she worked for the Department of Defense in contracting and pursued photography in the evenings at the Oklahoma School of Photography. It was after 2 years of cancer remediation in 1995-1996 that Debra decided to make her passion her profession.

She established a studio in the Paseo Arts District of Oklahoma City in 1997 and has become an accomplished award-winning photographer in the photographic arts field. Her work is published by a wholesale art publisher and is available on her website and gallery.

Debra’s subjects are derived mainly from the beauty and grace found in nature: animals, especially large birds, botanicals and landscapes. She prefers working with natural light. Although she used film for many years, she now strives to give each image its own individual appeal utilizing digital technology.

Other highlights of her career include being one of twelve photographers in 2014 selected by OVAC (Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition) for Photo Slam in which to speak about her work at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Also, she was honored to be one of four artists selected worldwide for a solo exhibition in October 2015 with Light Space Time Online Gallery showcasing her bird photography. And in 2009, she was the featured artist for the Annual Paseo Arts Festival in Oklahoma City, OK

Her work is displayed at 123 Gallery in Norman, OK and in private collections

SPANNING THROUGH THE AGES by Debra Van Swearingen(Click on image for larger view)

EUCALYPTUS DANCING by Deb Ehrens(Click on image for larger view)

Deb Ehrens says of her series, 'Adrift', "What began as a childhood fascination with the painted flowers on my grandmother’s china has become a lifelong love of botanical imagery.

With Adrift I have created when seems like a contradiction – still lifes in moving water. Using plant ephemera from my garden I design carefully layered tableaux that I secure in the ripples and small rapids of woodland streams. Once in the water my botanic elements shift in and out of focus, and the lines, textures and patterns dance with dramatic flashes of brilliant color. While the visual field is fast and fleeting I must move with an inner stillness to capture the momentary and lyrical imagery unfolding in front of me."

Deb Ehrens uses her camera to create contemplative and painterly imagery. She learned the basics of black and white photography as an adjunct to her early career as a journalist, and more recently has studied with Harold Ross, Dan Burkholder, Alison Shaw, Ron Wilson, and taken classes at Rhode Island School of Design and Maine Media College.

An on-going mentorship with painter Deborah Quinn-Munson has been instrumental in developing her artistic eye. Deb lives in Dartmouth, MA and is a Juried Artist Member of the Cape Cod Art Center, Exhibiting Member of the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts and Elected Member of the Rhode Island Art League.

ESCAPE by Diane Cockerill (photographed from a secret bluff in Pacific Palisades)(Click on image for larger view)

Diane Cockerill says,"I live in the sprawling megalopolis that is Los Angeles.

I am surrounded with industry, trucks, construction, trains and graffiti. I love it.

But there are times I need to refresh, renew and reconnect to the magic of quiet. Hikes in the Santa Monica mountains and walks on the beach afford this luxury and I feel whole again."

A third-generation Angeleno, Diane Cockerill studied Fine Art at UCLA. When photographing the sprawling neighborhoods of Los Angeles, there is very little that doesn’t pique her imagination. Street scenes, street art and street curbs, all photographed with a keen eye and unique perspective. Diane worked for over 30 years in the advertising industry but is now fully immersed in photographing her native Los Angeles.

Cockerill says, "I studied Fine Art at UCLA and have shown photographs at several local galleries as well as in Boston, South Korea and Hungary. Women in Photography International awarded my “Rainbow” image first place in their PhotoLA exhibition, and I am a member of CollectorWorks through Duncan Miller Gallery in Santa Monica. My images have been chosen to appear on YourDailyPhotograph.com over twenty times."

AFTER HOURS by Ellen JantzenBEST SERIES(Click on image for larger view)

Ellen Jantzen says, "In this series I am using imagery to convey my "feelings" about the state of nature, the nature of trees, and how to express their connection to past, present and future.

By obscuring a portion of the image through a veil, I strive to heighten the remaining reality through discovery and reflection.

Can Artists Heal Nature

As human actions impact the natural environment, can artists heal nature? Does art bring “special powers” to the table? If so, what are they? What is ‘art’? What is ‘nature’? What needs healing?

Disturbing the Spirits deals with both reality and time (past/present/future) and my growing attachment to the healing powers of the natural environment.

My life has taken a turn over the last four years. I returned to my place of birth in the US Midwest after leaving my home of 20 years. I left my California home with a range of emotions, from deep regret, loss and grief to longing and anticipation of what was to come; there is a new life brewing within.

I have been searching for meaning in my new life and have taken solace in the nature of this region.... its ever-changing seasons bring about an awareness of the fleetingness of life. I have an obsession with disappearance, of revealing only bits of reality and obscuring the rest through a veil of obscurity."

Awards

2018
11th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL COLOR AWARDS - Honorable Mention in the Abstract Category for my photo, Synchronized Color and Honorable Mention in the Fine Art Category for my photo, Amplification
SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS - my photo, Barrier Relief was Commended in the Enhanced Category and will be published in the accompanying book.

2014
GRANT-2014 INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AWARD from the Santo Foundation, St. Louis Missouri
HONORABLE MENTION (Special Effects), in the Moscow International Foto Awards for my series "Place of Departure"
WINNER OF PX3, Prix de la Photographie, Paris awarded First Prize (Gold Medal) in Fine Art/Digitally Enhanced category for my newest series "Place of
Departure".
GOLD MEDAL AWARD, in the San Francisco International Photography Exhibition, curated by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director and Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography... for my piece "Let The Others Follow"
HONORABLE MENTION, in Natural World exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography for my photo “Harmonic Progression”
HONORABLE MENTION, in The Life/Framer Beauty in Life exhibition for my photo “Remaining a Mystery”

2013
NOMINEE, for the 5th edition of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for women photographers (Fine Arts Category).
HONORABLE MENTION, in The Texas Photographic Society’s 26th Annual Members’ Only show for my photo “Reaching The In-between”
WINNER, Landscape Section, in the Spring Awards at The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards
WINNER OF PX3, Prix de la Photographie, Paris awarded First Prize in category Fine Art, for my series “Transplanting Reality; Transcending Nature”.... chosen from thousands of entries from 85 countries.
WPGA Gallery of Photographers, selected for a year’s representation and website for winning several weekly contests
TOP 20, BEST SUBMITTED PHOTOS: FINE ART, in the 2013 Raymond Weil International Photo Competition for my photo “In The Field of Gold”
CONTEMPORARY IMAGEMAKERS, 1st INDUCTEE, in the PhotoMedia Center’s “Contemporary Imagemakers Program 2013”.

List of Earlier Awards provided upon request

Invitational Exhibitions

2018
MOPLA (Month Of Photography LA), Instagram Jam exhibition at The Line Hotel, Opening April 12th.2017
THE HAND MAGAZINE's EXHIBITION,
OVERVIEW_2017, Group exhibition at the Bruno David Gallery, Clayton Missouri. June 24 -August 12
FOTOGRAFICA BOGOTA, 7th International Biennial of Photography; Theme "Territories" at FOTOMUSEO, May. I am the featured artist.
GRIFFIN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY, http://griffinmuseum.org/show/disturbing-the-spirits "Mudras", opening July 7th at Leedy Voulkos ArtCenter in Kansas City, MO.
The show will run through August.Critic's Pick!! My Disturbing The Spirits series will be featured from March 18 – May 28, 2017.page3image22176

2014
ART:314, at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis Missouri, November 14.
ELLEN JANTZEN, solo exhibition at Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, St. Louis Missouri, August 29 - September 26
PORTRAIT/PROCESS Exhibition, at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Musuem, St. Louis Missouri, June 19-Sept 28.
OVERVIEW_2014, at the Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis Missouri, May 9 - June 21st
PROJECT ROOM, at the Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis Missouri.
PHOTO LA, featured in the Susan Spiritus Gallery booth, January 16-19
INCOGNITO, fund raising exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica CA. 04/26

2016
THE BILLBOARD CREATIVE, one of 45 billboards throughout the Los Angeles area, December 12-January 8, 2017
TRANSITIONS, at Edition One, Santa Fe NM; hosted by the America Society of Media Photographers. Opens October 11th.
TRANSIENCE, L.A. Photo Curator's on-line exhibition
THE FENCE, an outdoor photography series, my work featured on the New Mexico Photographer Showcase, opening July 9th
THE FRONTIER, at The New Mexico History Museum. Work selected by CENTER of Santa Fe. Opening June 10 - 30th
TRANSITIONAL LANDSCAPES at The Center For Fine Art Photography, May 6 - June 10, 2016, Curated by Natasha Egan
WINTER PICTURES, online at Humble Arts Foundation 2015
ILLUMINATE at The Center For Fine Art Photography, December 4 - January 23, 2016, Curated by Elizabeth Avedon
MEMORIES, STORIES, HISTORIES with juror Amy Galpin at the Center For Fine Art Photography, November 6-28
SoHo PHOTO NATIONAL COMPETITION Curated by Elizabeth Avedon at the SohoPhoto Gallery, New York, NY, July 8 - 27th

2014
NEXT (New Photographic Visions), Curated by Elizabeth Avedon at the Castell Photography Gallery, Asheville, NC, November 7 - December 20.
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL Photography Exhibition at Gallery Photographica, August 10-24
LIAR, LIAR at Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, February 21 - March 15 NATURAL WORLD at the Center For Fine Art Photography, April 12 - May 27th

2013
26TH ANNUAL MEMBERS’ ONLY SHOW at The Texas Photographic Society for my photo “Reaching The In- between”
MYSTERIOUS VISIONS: DREAMS, FANTASIES AND MIRAGES at the PhotoPlace Gallery, April 23 - May 18th STORIES, MEMORIES AND HISTORIES at the Center for Fine Art Photography, March 29th-April 27th

Hal Robert Myers says, "I typically shoot street photography or grittier situations in which the tension of the moment tells a larger story.

Inside those occasions are fleeting moments of bliss -- something only the suspension of time can reveal. They're diamonds in the rough of our daily existence, and remind me that it's not all just a struggle; life is also a joy.

MY AIM IS TO SEE the humanity of a situation, not just the circumstance. A photograph allows us to freeze the choreography of our surroundings in order to more closely inspect the environment – but more so, to recognize in ourselves the shared human experience.

It suspends time, lets you roll the moment around on your tongue and get a flavor of things, maybe even imagine what happened before or after the picture was taken. As a photojournalist, I pursue this documentation, especially out there on the cultural fringe. But another aim is to capture and preserve the local traditions of people whose image is typically shaped by either travel brochures or a patronizing view of their relatively poor economic conditions… and to connect those moments to our common humanity.

I’m what Cornell Capa considered to be a “concerned photographer.” These days, just about any photographer who is sensitive to what feels like a world of multiplying social injustices must qualify. I have a particular interest in protecting the environment as well, and the two go hand-in-hand: we’re beginning a long march, so to speak, toward a period of global climgration (migration caused by climate change) – impacting and exacerbating a host of critical issues.

I’ve chosen a couple areas of interest to focus on in response, including unapologetic support of the promising (if not idealistic – something we need!) Young Progressives of America. The politics of progressivism is not a photographic project, yet, but my participation in the Women’s March on Washington, among several others, and a relationship to members of the Lakota Sioux in Standing Rock, North Dakota, has produced engaging photography that intends to influence in viewers an empathetic position.

Recent time spent navigating the (figurative) minefield of Afghanistan was an intense experience that further drives my sense of urgency to capture and convey the cultural heritage of fragile societies that are on the brink of either destruction or implosion. I can name several; sometimes erosion is hard to detect until the bottom drops out.

Having lived in five countries and spent time in well over 50 has imbued my photographic perspective with a certain sensitivity that comes from fully immersive travel experiences. I only began photographing seriously about 12 years ago – long enough for some, late for embarking on a lifetime passion.

That said, I wasn’t quite ready before then – preoccupied as I was with living in Saudi Arabia or Singapore, or adjusting to five years of life in Japan. There was a sort of inventory of life experiences I had to absorb before translating my philosophy, which took years to fully congeal, into a photographic vision. I’m grateful for the necessary time spent in creative gestation.

It’s also helped that I’ve been in marketing for more than 25 years, having earned my credentials and several awards in the business world.

This has chiseled and honed a significant facet of my creative style, which spans corporate strategy (especially in the field of sustainability), graphic design, copy writing, video production, web development and most anything that has required creative ideas to shape rhetorical messaging. I’ve been lucky to work professionally as the person I actually am.

The takeaway is that, as suggested elsewhere, we are all inherently connected. I’m baffled by the taking of knee-jerk political positions that build walls around narrow-minded and homogeneous thinking, which itself springs from fear.

Real solutions don’t come about through exclusion, but (however trite this might sound) acts of inclusion – whose root word “include” is an apt description for the container on which we all live: Planet Earth. Contrary to forces trying to pull us apart, the colorful threads of diversity are what bind the world closer together, much like an Afghan rug or a handmade Mexican scarf, whose strength is derived from the alternating warp and weft of their fibers. Our strength and, I suspect, future depends on taking an interwoven approach.

Hopefully some of that colorful diversity comes through in my photographs, most of which I have yet to take. And that’s the cool thing about taking pictures: there is so much of this amazing world to discover, it only takes positive intent, and perhaps a well-meaning aim, to easily see."

Harry Longstreet says, "I retired after twenty-five years as a writer, producer and director of filmed entertainment, primarily for television.

In the last ten years I’ve had a number of one-man shows and my work has appeared in more than two hundred national and international juried exhibitions.
I’m twice a Single Image Merit Award recipient from Black & White Magazine and twice a Single Image Merit Award winner from Color Magazine.

In 2013, I was awarded the FIAP Gold Medal (monochrome) in the International Varna Salon, and in 2014, I took Best in Show in the annual CVG Washington State competition and First Place (Photography) in the 2017 competition.

I began photographing plant-life from a desire to quiet the mind. In 2016, needing to escape the chaotic lifestyle of New York City, I moved to the serene mountains of Colorado. Time spent out in nature helped me transition to a quieter way of life and I began bringing my camera along. I found myself drawn to the dead or dying plant-life and photographing it became a practice of embracing the imperfect and impermanent, finding beauty and movement in the no longer living.

I aim to decontextualize my subjects in order to give them new life. Shooting with a large aperture, the plant is transported from where it is rooted to an ethereal world where it is given a new existence. It is in these imagined environments that I am able to get lost and find peace and I invite the viewer to do the same."

Born in New Hampshire, Jenna Teti’s passion for photography started from an early age thanks to her father, a fine art photographer himself. Obsessed with animals and growing up horseback riding, her favorite subjects, naturally, were horses and dogs. As she matured and turned her hobby into a career, she realized that the key to her approach was developing a keen sense of the individual.

After years working as a professional equestrian photographer on the east coast, she settled in New York City and offered pro bono photography to dog rescues and shelters in the area, as well as doing candid canine portraiture for private clients.

In 2016, she moved to Colorado and turned her focus to fine art photography, specifically macro photography of flora. While this new subject may differ greatly from her previous, she aspires to give them as much life and personality as the former.

She currently lives in Nederland, Colorado and can often be found exploring the trails along the front range with her canine sidekick, Reuben and, of course, her camera.